Maria Souza was born in Recife, Brazil. As a child Maria trained competitively in gymnastics until she fell in love with surfing at age 13. She travelled the world surfing and then settled on the North Shore of Oahu to build her big wave surfing skills. Maria was the first woman ever to tow-in to the powerful waves of Peahi, Maui, also known as “Jaws”. She moved to Maui when the sport of tow-in was born. In Maui she gave birth to her daughter Bela. And soon after the birth of Bela, Maria began to train hard again for tow-in surfing. Maria, along with Andrea Moeller, finished first on the first ever stand-up paddle channel crossing in 2005, 2006, amd 2008, a 7-hour crossing.
Maria went to college for marketing and she designs her own line of swimwear. She practices tow-in surfing, foil surfing, windsurfing, kiteboarding, Hawaiian canoe, longboarding, tandem surfing and stand-up paddle. She teaches surfing, longboarding, kitesurfing, windsurfing, and stand-up paddling. She is also a personal trainer for athletes worldwide.
Big Mahalo to Maria’s family and close friends for their constant support. Big Maholo to Issak Torrell and Upcountry Fitness for their personal training sponsorship.
Her goal is to keep learning and studying so she can continue to live her dream and enrich the lives of others.
CERTIFICATIONS
• National Academy of Sports Medicine
• NASM Personal Trainer
• Paul Check’s – Swiss Ball Training,
• High Performance Core Training
• IKO – Kiteboard Instructor
• Thai massage – Lomi Lomi
• Yoga – Hatha, Asthanga
• Meditation Visualization
• Nutrition – Metabolic Typing Diet
• Spinning Certified
• Pilates
• Associate Degree Marketing & Business
• PADI, Certified Scuba Diving
• Lifeguarding and Waterfront CPR / AED
• First Aid, Nurses Aid
About Stand Up Paddle
Stand-Up Paddle Surfing, also abbreviated as SUP, is rapidly growing global sport originating from Hawaii. It is traced back to the 1940’s in Tahiti. stand-up paddle surfing is a mix between—you guessed it—surfing and paddling. Back in the day, Waikiki beach boys stood on their longboards while navigating with outrigger paddles, taking pictures of tourists on shore, and the sport of stand-up paddle (SUP) was born. Now referred to as Ku Hoe He’e Nalu on the Hawaiian islands, the sport is quickly gaining popularity all over the world because of its graceful simplicity and quick learning curve.
Stand Up Paddle, (SUP), is an emerging global sport with a Hawaiian heritage. It can be traced back to the early days of Polynesia. The sport is ancient form of surfing and began as a way for surfing instructors to manage their large groups of learner surfers as standing on the board gave them a higher view point increasing visibility of what was going on around them such as incomming swell. To begin with, this started with using a one bladed paddle standing on a normal length surfboard. This evolved to standing on longer surf boards and paddling with modified paddles in the 1940s and 1950s.
Today SUP, or Stand-Up-Paddle, is gaining popularity as the demands for global-conscious green sports increase. Additionally the sport benefits athletes with a strong ‘core’ workout. SUP’ing is popular at warm coastal climates and resorts, and is gaining in popularity as celebrities are sampling the sport and cross-over athletes are training with SUP. SUPs have been spotted ar